(A note from Leah: Hi all, after a LONG hiatus, I will be posting many of my Goodreads reviews from 2019 to the present over the next few weeks/months. Sorry for the break folks!)
Normally after reading a book, I take a week, mull it over and then come back with a full review. Even less time if it is something that I just have to get out to the masses. However in July, I came across a book that pushed me to my emotional limits. A piece of literature that hurt me so badly in all of the best and worst ways that I had to take a month, let it marinate, rage, let it settle some more, and still stare in disbelief at my notes at the end of it. Naturally, I’m talking about Tamed By the Marquess, by Scarlett Osborne. This book pushed me to the point of actually wanting to throw my phone across the room from rage, and then giving a standing ovation at 6 am to no one but my hunny by the ending.
The two leads had such amazing chemistry from the start, but it is all nearly ruined before the first thirty percent of the book is even over. The story follows the Marquess of Clydekill Christopher (or Christy as he is called through the entire book) and the young gypsy girl he befriends named Joanna. Their childhood friendship starts innocently enough in the beginning, but when they both hit early adulthood, they have to navigate the waters of hot and cold tension when they each realize that they are attracted to one another. When they finally get a clue, it was steaming right out out of my phone screen. Unfortunately, this is also the point in time where my eyes began to roll so hard that I thought that they would get stuck in the back of my head. Their plans to run off and get married get thwarted near instantly.
This early on occurrence comes in the form or Christy’s dad, with his boundless deception and racism. The old Duke is quite possibly one of the most deplorable men that I have ever seen put to paper. He hates that his son is a good hearted well meaning person, and he goes out of his way to make not only Christy suffer, but mostly Joanna. The Duke, and several others, not limited to one exceptionally petty Lady Jersey, just ooze evil for the sake of being evil. That is a part of why I struggled with this particular title. It’s as though many of them had nothing better to do but make life absolutely miserable for the hero and heroine as humanly possible.
This is especially true of the father. His actions led to one of the most historically accurate, heart wrenching tales of a struggling single mother that almost broke me. Joanna endures every low point that one could imagine. As soon as you think that things cannot get worse for them, things manage to descend into the pits of hell. By the halfway mark I was shaking with rage and crying because I was just wanting the book to end. Either by Joanna’s death or some kind of happy resolution.
The two are eventually reunited, though not happily at first due to the lies and hurt caused by the people of Christy’s life, including but not limited to: His wife, his father, his sisters, the land steward, my salami leg, your salami leg, his salami leg, and Carl’s shoe. Well not quite all of those, but you get my point. There was angst seeping out of every page, to the point where when the three of them FINALLY got their happy ending, it felt well deserved. It felt like a reward after enduring all of life’s heartaches alongside Joanna and Christy over a ten year span. And it was absolutely SATISFYING.
When 6 am rolled around, I was mentally and physically exhausted by what I had read. Two months later, I am still shell shocked and in awe of the world that Scarlett Osborne built. She has become an author to wait on pins and needles for when her ARCs become available. I am willing to wait until the end of time for the next story in this line, as I am excited to see what comes next for the Australian and Hannah.
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